March 23rd, 2012 by Oman Views

Bahrain to retry 20 medics in uprising case

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) – Twenty Bahraini medical professionals convicted on uprising-linked charges and sentenced to prison terms face retrial in civilian courts, a lawyer said Thursday.

Lawyer Jalila al-Sayed said a judge revoked last week’s decision to proceed with only five cases and refer the other 15 doctors and nurses to a medical disciplinary board. All were convicted of anti-state crimes during last year’s unrest.

Even so, Bahraini authorities insisted the prosecutors will pursue charges only against five of the 20 health professionals. The discrepancy could not immediately be clarified.

The 20 doctors and nurses treated wounded protesters during the Gulf kingdom’s uprising. Last year a special security court, set up during eight weeks of emergency rule in the Gulf kingdom, sentenced them to five to 15 years in prison.

That court has been disbanded. Al-Sayed said the judge did not mention dropping charges against 15 medics during Thursday’s proceedings in a civilian court.

The next hearing has been set for March 20. The case has drawn stiff criticism from human rights groups.

Also Thursday, clashes between security forces and opposition supporters flared across the tiny but strategically important Gulf island that is the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Riot police fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets at protesters, who were marking the first anniversary of the deployment of a Saudi-led military force in Bahrain.

Some protesters threw firebombs at the riot police. There were no reports of injuries.

The troops from the Sunni-ruled neighboring states were sent to Bahrain to help the Sunni monarchy quell dissent among the island nation’s majority Shiites.

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February 18th, 2012 by Oman Views

Anonymous Marks Bahrain Protest by Hacking U.S. Tear Gas Company

Much of the tear gas that billowed through Bahrain’s streets Monday (and throughout the Arab Spring) was made by a Pennsylvania-based company called Combined Systems, so to mark the anniversary of protests in Bahrain, Anonymous took Combined Systems’ website offline and dumped its employee and client data on the Web.

The Combined Systems website was unresponsive on Tuesday morning, as were the websites for surveillance hardware manufacturer Sur-Tec, Thompson Handcuffs, and weapons maker Penn Arms, all of which Anonymous claimed credit for knocking offline.

The loose-knit hacking collective promised more such attacks for Valentine’s Day, tweeting: “Stay tuned for more Valentine’s Day Hacks. Have you enjoyed the show so far?”

By Adam Martin | The Atlantic Wire

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June 18th, 2011 by Oman Views

GENEVA (AFP) – Bahrain has agreed to host a team of UN assessors following a violent crackdown on popular protests earlier this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday.

“The government of Bahrain has agreed in principle for us to deploy an assessment mission to the country and we welcome this,” said spokesman Rupert Colville.

“We have been seeking access into Bahrain for quite some time, precisely so we can assess the situation independently.

“As we prepare for this mission, we continue to receive reports about ongoing dismissals of people from their jobs, as well as trials of individuals, for their political views and for participating in the demonstrations earlier this year.”

Bahraini authorities have said 24 people were killed during the month-long protests which began mid-February and four demonstrators died in custody.

Colville said that aid groups reported more than 1,000 people in custody following the unrest with a further 59 unaccounted for up to May 18.

“We hope to be able to continue investigating this information when our delegation goes to the country,” said the spokesman.

The UN is not the only organisation to have encountered problems operating in the Shiite-majority kingdom which is ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty.

President of the International Committee of the Red Cross Jakob Kellenberger condemned on Thursday the group’s lack of access to detainees in Bahrain.

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